Re: Kashmir!!! Your views…
Pretty typical of Indians to play the “Kashmiri Pandit” card, they like bring up about whatever happened 20 years ago yet ignore the atrocities the Indian military committed against Kashmiris.
Most Indians, especially Kashmiri Pandits aren’t aware of the atrocities the Dogras committed against Kashmiris in Jammu, over 200,000 Kashmiri Muslims were massacred in Jammu in 1947, completely changing the demographics, many were driven to Pakistan and that’s why North Punjab has a large Kashmiri community.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, Kashmiri Muslims were persecuted by the Dogra rulers, many had leave Kashmir and settle in Pakistan because of high taxes imposed on them and sporadic massacres; in fact in the late 19th century Kashmiri Muslims weren’t allowed to even celebrate Eid al Adha because they weren’t allowed to slaughter any cattle; the Dogras gave preferential treatment Kashmiri “Pandits”.
The reason why Hindus in Kashmir are called Pandits, is because back when the Mughals were occupying Kashmir, the Kashmiri Muslims were rebelling against the Mughals but the Kashmiri Hindus allied with the the Mughals against Kashmir.
Today there are over 5 million people of Kashmiri origin living in Pakistan, far more than the number of Kashmiri Pandits driven from the valley; if Kashmiri Hindus should be allowed to return to the valley, then the descendants of those Kashmiri Muslims who were driven out by the Dogras should also be allowed to return; all the Kashmiris from Punjab and Hazara and should be allowed to move back/buy up land in Kashmir; if India wants to play the Kashmiri Pandit card, then Pakistan should play the Kashmiri Diaspora card, unfortunately most Pakistanis of Kashmiri origin don’t really care about the Kashmir dispute, and there isn’t really a lot of lobbying unlike the Kashmiri-Pandit propaganda machine.
EDIT: the number of Pakistanis of Kashmiri origin is probably around 10 million or more, I think they should all start lobbying to the right to return to the valley; they would outnumber the KashmiriPandits by a huge margin.